On Europe's Representation: A Symbolic Interpretation of Rejecting the Constitution

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (03) ◽  
pp. 551-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natascha Zowislo-Grünewald
Keyword(s):  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
European Identity ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
The People ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Written Form ◽  
Symbolic Interpretation

The lack of enthusiasm for the European Union and its proposed constitution among the European people surprised the political elite of Europe. Codifying common beliefs and values seemed to be a good way to represent the European identity in written form. The signing of the constitutional treaty should have become an important symbolic act, demonstrating the willingness of the people to bond together. Instead, a so-called Reform Treaty was passed in Lisbon in 2007 (to be ratified by all member states by 2009) that specifically abandoned any allusion to symbolic forms of European representation such as the termconstitution, the flag, or a European anthem.

scholarly journals The Symbols Role in the Creation of a European Identity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioana-Sabina Prisacariu
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
European Identity ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
National Symbols ◽  
May Day ◽  
Education Culture

The present paper focuses on the symbolic aspects of the process of formation, sustainment, and change of identity in the European Union. We first establish the role of the symbolisms and symbols in forming links among European citizens and in shaping a European identity.We present a number of initiatives, which have been taken, aimed at forming a collective identity related to the concerns expressed in the recent years over the democratic deficit of the European Union. We consider Andonnino Reports especially significant in this sense through the recommendation of adopting Community symbols. After presenting other activities organized with this aim, in education, culture, and youth fields, we argue that the symbols established by the Constitutional Treaty are the most readily identifiable symbols of integration process.We consider important to have a theoretical presentation of the social and anthropological functions of the symbols. The role of the national symbols of any state is to provide an identity, having at the same time a unifying and a federating power. We show the political implication of the symbols at the level of European citizens. The citizens can be influenced by means of symbols and their symbolisms, to leave aside their differences and act in the common public good. We can conclude that the first important steps to emerging European Union as a new post-national political system (where the national interest coincides with the European interest) have been made. We emphasize how the European symbols such as the flag, the anthem, the motto, the currency, and the Europe Day help to make the European Union more legitimate in the eyes of its citizens by creating emotive images and rites.At the end of the paper, we describe the 9 May Day as a performance of a ritual festivity. We have in mind especially the capacity of this moment to act as a sequence of events within a fixed space and time and to involve simultaneously all stimuli. Our aim is to show how particular aspects of the process of construction of a European identity work in practice, in relation to the symbolic context of ideologies, images, and worldviews.

VOOR DE VORST, MAAR IN NAAM VAN HET VOLK

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-134
Author(s):  
Corné Smit
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People

FOR THE KING, BUT IN THE NAME OF THE PEOPLE How the conservative ‘Dagblad van Zuidholland en ’s-Gravenhage’ developed its populist traits The Dutch conservatives in the nineteenth century used the concept of volkskoning (the people’s king) to legitimize their defence of royal prerogatives against the increasing power of parliament. This concept emphasized the bond between monarch and people and depicted the political elite as a threat to both. Based on a study of the conservative newspaper Dagblad van Zuidholland en ’s-Gravenhage, this article argues that the idea of the volkskoning was developed into a more populist argument in which the people became the de facto sovereign who had to be protected against the rotten elite in parliament.

NAPOLEON AND THE FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE

2010 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 339-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP G. DWYER
Keyword(s):  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
French Empire ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Beliefs And Values ◽  
Dominant Set ◽  
French People ◽  
First French Empire ◽  
Louis Xvi

ABSTRACTHistorians generally discount the advent of the First French Empire as the result of Napoleon's personal ambition. Napoleon, however, could not have brought about the transition from republic to empire without wide support, not only among the political and military elite, but also among the French people. This article re-examines the reasons why, a little more than ten years after the execution of Louis XVI, moderate-conservative elements in the political elite opted for a monarchical-style political system, and why it was so widely accepted by ordinary people across France. It does so by examining the arguments in favour of empire in three ‘sites of ideas’: the neo-monarchists in Napoleon's entourage; the political elite, preoccupied with many of the same concerns that had plagued France since 1789; and the wider political nation, which expressed a manifest adhesion to Napoleon as emperor that was marked by an affective bond. The push to empire, it is argued, was an expression of a dominant set of political beliefs and values. Napoleon, on the other hand, only reluctantly came to accept the notion of heredity.

‘Like amphibious animals’: Irish protestants, ancient Britons, 1691–1707

1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 785-797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Parliamentary Sovereignty ◽  
Inferior Status ◽  
The Face ◽  
Religion And Ethnicity ◽  
Two Kingdoms

ABSTRACTIreland in the 1690s was a protestant state with a majority catholic population. These protestants sometimes described themselves as ‘the king's Irish subjects’ or ‘the people of Ireland’, but rarely as ‘the Irish’, a label which they usually reserved for the catholics. In constitutional and political terms their still evolving sense of identity expressed itself in the assertion of Irish parliamentary sovereignty, most notably in William Molyneux's 1698 pamphlet, The case of Ireland's being bound by acts of parliament in England, stated. In practice, however, the Irish parliament did not enjoy legislative independence, and the political elite was powerless in the face of laws promulgated at Westminster, such as the i6gg woollen act, which were detrimental to its interests. One possible solution to the problem of inferior status lay in legislative union with England or Great Britain. Increasingly in the years before 1707 certain Irish protestant politicians elaborated the economic, constitutional and practical advantages to be gained from a union, but they also based their case upon an appeal to the shared religion and ethnicity of the sovereign's loyal subjects in the two kingdoms. In short the protestants insisted that they were English. This unionist episode thus illustrates the profoundly ambivalent character of protestant identity in late seventeenthand early eighteenth-century Ireland.

scholarly journals The Indian Republic as Governance Guru to the European Union: Does the Subcontinent Offer the Continent a Model for Managing Diversity?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm MacLaren
Keyword(s):  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Constitutional Treaty ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Managing Diversity ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The Common

The development and working of governance in post-colonial India provides insights into and lessons for the actual European project of integration. The Republic’s founders coined the slogan ‘unity in diversity’, and their creation has enjoyed considerable (unexpected) success in managing linguistic, religious, ethnic, and territorial diversities. In contrast, the Union’s leaders are still struggling to constitute a political community, as the failure of the draft constitutional treaty made clear.Considering wider dimensions of managing cultural diversity, the paper follows the thesis that in political integration projects, law matters and politics does too, but that the political culture prevailing matters most. The success (or failure) of such attempts is ultimately determined not by the framework rules, institutions, and procedures but by the common (or divergent) values, attitudes, and goals of the political actors involved.

scholarly journals Card Index of Former Latvian SSR KGB Agents: Trauma and the Path to Public Reconciliation

2021 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 155-178
Author(s):  
Uldis Krēsliņš ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Formal Solution ◽  
Psychological Trauma ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Card Index ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Historical Truth ◽  
Witch Hunt

In August 1991, the Republic of Latvia took over the documents of the former Latvian SSR KGB, including the card index of KGB agents. At that time, by postponing the card index publication, the political authorities made the issue of former KGB agents a hostage of their political interests. Discussion on the fate of the card index continued in Latvian public sphere over the next 27 years. The stance of the political elite, which found support in some groups of society, was opposed to the publication of the card index, being concerned about a possible witch-hunt and psychological trauma of the people mentioned in the card index as well as their relatives. However, as a result of public pressure, after lengthy indecision, the card index was made public in December 2018. Unfortunately, the publication of the card index has offered only a formal solution to the issue of the former KGB agents, and the expected results have been achieved from the aspect of neither historical truth nor public reconciliation. Only a small number of people mentioned in the card index have admitted the fact of their cooperation and just a few have expressed public regret. In turn, after 27 years of political elite’s hesitancy, most of the KGB persecution victims accepted the publication of the card index in silence. However, it is clear that denial and silence are not the way to public reconciliation and comprehension of trauma. Those few attempts to make one’s experience public show that in today’s situation people can seek reconciliation only with themselves and within themselves.

scholarly journals The Bogor Regency Regional People's Representative Council's Legislative Function in the Preparation of Regional Regulations

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Syaiful Azhar ◽  
Mufidah Mufidah
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
City Council ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Local Regulation ◽  
The People ◽  
Executive Agency

The legislative function of the DPRD has not run smoothly, in some areas it is still experiencing various difficulties. Many Local Regulation Draft Initiatives (Raperda) come from the Regional Government as an executive agency. Meanwhile, the institution that enforces the aspirations of the community, the DPRD provides a lot of participation in the determination of the Perda. The purpose of the research is to study the implementation of the legislative function of the DPRD in Bogor City in 2013-2018. This research uses a qualitative method with literature approach. Data sources used in this study consisted of primary, secondary and tertiary legal materials, policy considerations of the political elite in this case the Bogor City Council, books, journal of legal. The results of the research are the legislative function carried out by the Bogor City DPRD in accordance with Law Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government, which wrongly performs the legislative function that can capture the aspirations of the people in Bogor City, by receiving reports or complaints from the people of Bogor City the problem of dissatisfaction of a service. Although in its implementation is still not optimal because there are still obstacles in legislation.

scholarly journals Political Motives for the Plan for the Expansion of New Autonomous Regions in Papua

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-238
Author(s):  
Dafrin Muksin ◽  
Sahrail Robo ◽  
Ahmad Rizali Pawane
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Data ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Autonomous Region ◽  
The Public ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Systematic Framework

This study examines the political motives of the plan to expand the new autonomous region in Papua. This is because the expansion of new autonomous areas is not always purely for the welfare of the people but is very closely related to political interests, namely power, and position. This study used qualitative research methods. The data used in the form of secondary data was obtained through reputable media and documents in journals. Next, the data is sorted to form a systematic framework. To analyze the research data, Nvivo plus 12 was used. From the analysis, it was described, and a conclusion was drawn. The study results indicate that the political motives for the plan to expand the new autonomous region in Papua are very material-intensive, namely the interests of the political elite, both central and local, to obtain rewards, position, and power. There is a narrative in the ideological incentive motive that regional expansion is for the public interest, namely providing services, developing infrastructure, increasing human resources, and alleviating poverty. However, in reality, some of the ongoing divisions in Papua have not yet impacted the Papuan people.

scholarly journals Oposisi dan Koalisi: Potret Kultur Demokrasi Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Cultural Attitudes ◽  
The People ◽  
Power Holder ◽  
The Government

Democracy allows the people to have equal rights in decision-making that can change their lives. Consequently, opposition and coalition exist in this political system. While the opposition aims to correct and evaluate various government decisions, the coalition is the power holder or supporter of the government. Because Indonesia is a country that uphold legal formal consisting of many political parties, a coalition government party must be formed. This is done by gathering other parties until the government can run effectively so that it has the basis of a combination and effective legitimacy. In the second period of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's cabinet, the emergence of political parties that were powerless and did not dare to become the government's opposition became evidence of the need for democratization. The emergence of elitism, centralization, and anti-public, as well as the freezing of political structures and the backwardness of the cultural attitudes of the Indonesian people caused the opposition to stand on the word of democratization. Therefore coalitions and opposition are two important parts in building a democratic governance system in Indonesia. This article underlines that democracy in the political elite tends to produce a pseudo and half-hearted democracy. Therefor, the portrait of democratization is needed as a reinforcement of all elements of civil society and thus is not seen as a "devout movement of the state", but an urgent movement to change the attitude of the state through changes in the political composition within it.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document